Residents rally against power plant.
Despite protests from some south Etobicoke residents, construction of the Greenfield South power plant on Loreland Avenue in Mississauga is well under way. (Sept. 8, 2011)
Rob Beintema/MISSISSAUGA NEWS
Etobicoke and Mississauga residents who live near the construction of a power plant northwest of Sherway Gardens mall fire up their opposition with a rally and meeting Thursday night.
The natural-gas-fired power plant is too close to residential areas and poses air pollution and safety concerns in the same way a similar plant planned for Oakville created concerns, argue concerned residents and former energy minister Donna Cansfield.
Premier Dalton McGuinty's government killed plans for the Oakville plant last October.
"I've always been up front that my constituency comes first," Etobicoke Centre MPP Donna Cansfield, who is running for re-election, said in an interview Wednesday.
"I've always been solution-oriented. I've taken that position with the premier's staff, the MOE (Ministry of the Environment). There has to be an acceptable solution to this problem. We will continue until we solve it."
The 280-megawatt Greenfield South plant is being built by Eastern Power Ltd. on a 4.5-hectare site on Loreland Drive near the Etobicoke Creek, Trillium Health Centre's Etobicoke hospital as well as residential neighbourhoods in west Etobicoke, including Markland Wood and Alderwood.
CHIP, the Coalition of Homeowners for Intelligent Power, organized the rally and meeting Sept. 15 starting at 6 p.m. at Le Treport Wedding and Convention Centre, 1075 Queensway East at Stanfield Road in east Mississauga.
"It's just absolutely in the wrong place," Greg Rohn, interim chair of CHIP, said in an interview Wednesday about the power plant.
"People will say it's cleaner than coal. It is cleaner than coal. But the smallest molecule of toxins get deep into your lungs. It's right upwind from Trillium Hospital, schools and 100 metres from the nearest homes."
CHIP represents more than 10,000 homeowners in Etobicoke and Mississauga.
"This is not a NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) thing," Rohn said. "It shouldn't be done to residents anywhere. Such a wrong is being pushed on us. We can't sit silent and do nothing."
Premier Dalton McGuinty told reporters while visiting a Milton elementary school in June that the environment ministry would take a second look at the approval it gave in 2008. "There's never a wrong time to do the right thing, and that's what we'll do," McGuinty said.
In June, Minister of Environment John Wilkinson told The Guardian he would review the ministry's decision to approve plans for a power plant on the Etobicoke-Mississauga border. No date was given for when the review will be completed.
Cansfield said she asked Wilkinson this summer to put a stop work order on the plant until his review is completed.
"I didn't get a response," she said.
The Ministry of the Environment has agreed to conduct an air quality assessment on the proposed plant.
After a long period of inactivity on the site, the City of Mississauga issued the company a building permit in May after the Ontario Municipal Board denied the city's appeal in 2007.
Cansfield said she has also approached the Technical Standards and Safety Authority over concerns the plant's fuel tanks may be too close to area homes.
"I've always been a huge supporter of alternative energy, but it has to be in the appropriate location. It's an issue of safety. Air quality is critical as well," she said.
"We're looking at everything and anything we can to help these (residents). Charles Sousa, Laurel (Broten) and I recognize it's something that doesn't belong there."
Sousa is running for re-election as the Mississauga South MPP, as is Broten in Etobicoke-Lakeshore.
- With a file from Torstar News Service